Changing Lives
by Izumi's Apprentice
Summary: "You know I love you right?" He nodded his head in ascent. "There's been something on my mind for a while now and I just can't seem to let it go or not think about it. You might be uncomfortable with it but...I've always wanted..." Read to find out! Chapter 1 Edited! Chapter 2 now available!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The usual, I do not own NCIS at all

Author's Note: I haven't written any NCIS stories before, so this is my first. I haven't updated or added anything in a long time, so yeah…Hope you enjoy my Jenny/Gibbs story. Please R&R

Author's Note 11-4-12: I've edited this chapter due to the repetitiveness of Gibbs smirking and a number of other things I simply did not like about it, but it's pretty much the same chapter. Also, expect a second chapter here soon.

**Changing Lives**

The couple's bodies were intertwined, his arms around her waist and hers around his chest. Their legs tangled with the other's. They stared into each other's eyes, whispering about meaningless nothings. Her hazel eyes were softened by the light glow of the moon through their window and his blue eyes, to the inexperienced, seemed as neutral as ever; to her, his eyes showed nothing but love and devotion for her, making the woman love him even more. She shifted briefly, releasing the tension of her body's desire to fall asleep, as he moved to accommodate her. She looked up into his eyes, opening her mouth to speak.

"Jethro?"

"Hmm?"

"You know I love you right?" He nodded his head in ascent. He bent to kiss her lightly, showing her he loved her too. "There's been something on my mind for a while now and I just can't seem to get it out of my head. I know how much Shannon and Kelly affected you, so you might be uncomfortable with it but…I've always wanted a child. And, as you know, I'm not getting any younger," she muttered, looking away from him, both in fear of his response and the bile that formed in her mouth about her age. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to bear a child and that scared her.

Jethro looked down at the rumpled sheets before looking back at her. He shrugged his shoulders in response to his own thoughts and then voiced the one thing she needed to hear. "Sure, Jenny. Whatever you want."

She looked up at him, overjoyed that he agreed, but soon started blushing. "Thank you, Jethro because I think…I may be pregnant already." His eyes widened in shock, not expecting this development. Silence resounded for a few moments as the couple struggled with the news.

Jenny pulled the covers up to their shoulders, a chill having made its way through her naked body. She was worried that Jethro would be upset, but couldn't understand why he would be if he already wanted a child. Maybe this was just Jethro being Jethro. She curled up, perfectly ready to fall asleep when he spoke.

"I…I wasn't expecting this, Jenny," He mumbled. She looked up at him, watching his features carefully. He wrapped his arms around her waist again and moved closer to her. "I'm glad for us Jenny, but you realize the team will constantly be on your case as to who the father is, right?"

"What, I can't tell them? You handle their prying minds and questions better than I," she replied, a smirk on her face.

"Oh, but you have to realize that anything you say, I can deny and they will believe me."

"Only because they fear you, Jethro."

"What's the problem with that?"

"….Nothing, I guess," she said before he captured her supple lips with his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~RAWR~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seven months later, Director Jenny Shepard sat in her office, flipping back and forth between filling out paperwork and browsing her email. She was about twenty-eight weeks pregnant making her eight weeks off from her due date. Jenny felt as bloated as an elephant and kept feeling worse every day, somehow knowing it was going to happen very soon, which was wrong. A light knock on her door signaled a no-doubt information-carrying Cynthia, who came in without waiting for a reply.

"I have those files you requested on that Corporal, Director," she told her.

"Thank you, Cynthia, I appreciate it," Jenny told her, glancing briefly at the manila folders before bringing her attention back to the computer screen and an email from the soon-to-be temporary Director. "Leon Vance…" she muttered, reading over his credentials.

"Excuse me?" Cynthia asked shifting her weight from one leg to the other in front of the desk.

"My replacement when I go on maternity leave. That's his…" she trailed off.

"Director?" Jenny's face scrunched up in pain, unfamiliar with it, wondering what was going on.

"Cynthia….something's," Jenny gave a slight cry of pain. "Wrong…" she moaned quietly, resting back against her chair. Cynthia ran behind the desk, searching her Director's face as the pain came and slowly faded. She then reached for the phone and dialed Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs' desk number.

"Agent Gibbs? The Director's in pain; I think you might want to…" Cynthia traveled off as she realized that he had let go of the phone and no doubt started running up the stairs. She swiftly dialed Doctor Mallard's extension, telling him the situation while Gibbs looked his lover over.

"Jenny? Jenny!? How are you feeling, what's the matter?" He asked worriedly, though knew she was probably going into labor. What didn't go through his mind was that she was having contractions too early. Ducky came into the room making his way to Jenny and Gibbs, pulling on his stethoscope as he went. He placed it on Jenny's back, and asked how far apart the contractions were.

"Not too close, but something else seems to be wrong," Cynthia informed the M.E. worry creasing her forehead.

"Alright, call Anthony and tell him to bring a car around. We'll take her to the hospital now," Ducky told them all, Gibbs pulling Jenny to her feet and making their way to the door. Cynthia had gone ahead of them and told Agent DiNozzo what he should do.

Gibbs was soon at the car with Jenny and the others in tow. He carefully led her into the car, and got in on the other side, Ducky moving to sit in the passenger seat, Tony driving. They went to the hospital at a near Gibbs-crazy speed and got attention immediately. Jenny was brought into a room with Gibbs and Ducky following. A doctor came in and took her vitals and measured the time between her contractions.

Who knows how many hours later after a couple CAT scans and other tests, Ducky had retired to the waiting room where Tony, Ziva, Abby, and McGee were. Gibbs waited with Jenny, surviving her outbursts of rage because she had been induced into labor. She was mad at him, but he couldn't figure out why, only reminded of the pain Shannon had gone through bringing Kelly into the world. The difference was that Shannon had quietly suffered through the labor, whereas Jenny screamed at him and threw tissue boxes at his head.

A nurse came in a few minutes ago, surmising that she was dilated enough, so she left to get the doctor and extra help. Gibbs stood up and from the chair he was sitting in near Jenny and cautiously approached the bedside.

"Jethro…" she mumbled, looking up at him. His eyes widened, shocked to see what he saw in her hazel eyes. "I'm scared," she whispered before writhing beneath him in another wave of pain.

"It's okay, Jenny. You will be fine, I promise," he told her. The doctor had come back.

"So, are you ready, Jen?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, I am. I have Jethro," she said, smiling. A few hours later and what felt like many broken fingers on Jethro's part, the final push was at hand.

"When this is all," Jenny grunted lightly. "...done, I'm going to kill you Jethro," she scathed, glaring at him.

"Okay, this is it, Jenny. One more push and this will all be over," the doctor told them. Jethro moved in closer and grabbed Jenny's hand again in comfort. "Now, push." The loud, but feeble cries of a newborn baby soon filled the room as Jenny fell limp from fatigue. The nurse came over to the other side of the bed, having cleaned and wrapped the child in a blanket. She carefully handed the new mother her baby.

"Congratulations, it's a boy," she said smiling.

Jenny looked down into the tiny face, Jethro peering by her side as well. The child cooed and meekly fussed in her arms, drawing smiles out of his parents.

"He's adorable, Jenny," Jethro told her, rubbing his son's light, fluffy hair carefully.

She smiled faintly. "He has your genes too, Jethro," she said, hearing his words as though he were just there for support as a friend and the child was only hers.

"But you brought him to us, Jenny. You gave him life," he said causing Jenny to blush.

"He can stay with you until he falls asleep and then I need to take him to the nursery to fill out his vital signs. He's two months premature, but he seems to be healthy and no problems have arisen yet. We will keep him under surveillance, though," The doctor told them. "The reason for Jenny's early contractions, leading to the induced labor, is because the baby was pushing on her uterus, unknowingly inflicting pain upon her body." Jokingly he added, "He's an impatient baby."

The couple smiled, reminded of Jethro keeping his own schedules. Their son started crying again, the nurse coming over to explain to Jenny how to feed her baby. Jethro decided to go inform the others and kissed his lover's forehead before leaving.

In the waiting room, Gibbs saw that it was nearly one in the morning already. Not many people were there but who was there were practically asleep. Abby was in the corner resting her head on McGee's shoulder, no doubt sleeping. Tony was sprawled out on two chairs, his sunglasses shielding the light, obviously dozing. Ziva and Ducky were sipping tea and quietly chatting.

"Hey!" Gibbs said, stirring his entire team from their lackadaisical behaviors.

Tony jolted awake calling out, "I didn't have sexual relations with that woman!"

Abby moved slowly and drowsily. "What...? What's going on, Timmy?" she mumbled.

"Gibbs is back," he replied standing up to go near his boss.

"Oh!" Abby rushed over to hug Gibbs. "Congratulations!"

Gibbs faltered slightly, fatigued, but caught their balance. "Thanks, Abs. But, I'm having trouble breathing."

"Sorry," she pulled away. Tony finally made his way over.

"So...?" Tony questioned.

"So what, DiNozzo?" Gibbs shot back.

"What gender is the baby? How are they, Jethro? Questions like those are running through our minds," Ducky intervened.

"It's a boy," he started, wondering how much he knew that they wanted to know. "Jenny and my son are fine..." Gibbs noticed the doctor and nurse leaving the room to talk by the nurse's station. "And...you guys can come visit them if you want."

Abby gasped. "Yeah, of course we'd love to see Mommy and Daddy's child," she spoke for the entire group, referring to the fact that the two of them were like the parents of the agency. They followed Gibbs to the door of the room, but he held up his hand and went inside first.

"They want to see you and meet him, Jenny," he murmured bringing his mouth close to her ear. He took in the faint smell of strawberries from her hair as he awaited her answer.

"Sure," she mumbled back, reveling in their closeness. Before he let the team in, she pulled his face to hers and kissed him passionately. "I love you."

Jethro grinned, nodding his head and motioning with his arm for the group to come in. With no surprise to anyone, Abby was the first at Jenny's side. The forensic scientist looked down into the face of the newborn, awe evident on her face.

"He's so cute..." She whispered smiling. Before moving away she added, "You guys make cute little Giblets..." Tony came over slowly, petting the boy's head, obviously uncomfortable. He moved away to allow Ducky his turn. The M.E. placed his hand on Jenny's left shoulder.

"Good job, my dear," he said smiling. "I have a feeling he will have Jethro's cerulean eyes."

"Thank you, Ducky," Jenny said, glancing at her lover for confirmation first. "We want to make you..." she paused momentarily knowing this would sound slightly odd."...and Abby to be the godparents."

"What do you say?" Gibbs asked looking between the two confidants. Abby was in such a state of shock that all she could do was nod her head briefly.

"It would be an honor," Ducky said, moving to stand by Tony. Ziva came up next.

"Have you picked out a name yet, Jenny?" Ziva asked looking at the miniature human.

"We have a few in mind. Maybe you guys can help us choose," she said, as McGee came over.

He stayed for a short time before moving back to his spot in the room. "So, uh, what names do you guys have?" he asked.

"Well, I like Jayden and Zack," she started.

Everyone looked at Gibbs waiting for his picks. He glanced at them and looked away, trying to remember which names he preferred the most. "Daniel and Thomas."

"Wow, real original boss," Tony said, smirking. Gibbs glared at him.

"Allow me," Ziva offered, before head slapping her coworker, gaining a yelp from him. Everyone but the parents glared at Tony and 'shushed' him, not wanting to wake the baby.

After making sure he hadn't woken up, everyone charged with the mission thought about the names given, trying out different variations of first and middle names. Then they all started to whisper, giving furtive looks at the parents to dramatize the situation. A hush fell over the room finally, the friends coming to a consensus.

"How about Zachary Daniel, boss?" McGee asked, the others nodding in agreement. Jethro and Jenny looked down at their sleeping bundle of joy.

"Sounds wonderful," Jenny murmured, obviously tired.

The nurse came in. "Okay, time to leave now. I let all of you stay, visiting hours having ceased at ten p.m. I guarantee the new family is exhausted. Good night," she told the parents, ushering their coworkers out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~RAWR~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A young boy sat in a huge room, staring at anything that sparkled or moved or made noise. He was very curious and always intrigued by everything around him. His fire red hair was floppy and soft, often getting his head petted by those who walked into the room to visit the adult there. He didn't speak, and rarely made grunting noises, but he felt no need to; the sounds that happened around him were so very amazing he didn't want to spoil it or miss one. The two tall people that were constantly near him, the pretty long haired one and the tall smirking one, would often talk about him and would worry about his silent mood.

He looked over at the tall dark 'box' and saw the pretty one's head over it, with the sparkly glasses on her eyes, and he smiled, giving a slight giggle. She was talking to someone on the black 'banana', her voice extremely soothing to him, making him smile more. A noise other than the pretty lady's voice resounded through the big room, drawing the attention of the boy, his sapphire eyes flying over to the tall swinging thing that had a shiny 'ball' on it.

"Uh! Ah!" He grunted, pointing his tiny finger at the moving thing, hoping to get the lady's attention. "Uh!"

The door opened and Gibbs walked in, making his way over to the desk, where Jenny was talking on the phone to someone. He waited a few minutes, looking out the window that was behind her desk. It was a beautiful day and his team didn't have a case, so they were stuck inside unable to relish in the good weather.

Finally fed up, Gibbs spoke to his wife, "I knocked, Jenny."

She placed a hand over the receiver and looked at him. "I'm on the phone, Jethro," she whispered, continuing to talk. He sighed, trying to not to get angry or upset. If she wasn't hanging up the phone in his presence, then she must be talking about something important.

He turned around and saw that his son had crawled under the meeting table, entertaining himself with one of the play balls. Gibbs smirked, going over to the table and onto his knees..

"Hey there, Zack," he said, reaching a hand under and ruffling the boy's red hair. The child stared at him, his eyes wide and beautiful. Gibbs smiled, and started pushing the ball back and forth between his hands, the child following with his eyes and giggling lightly. They continued their little game for a few minutes, neither noticing that Jenny had finished her phone conversation.

She stood up and stretched, looking around the room to see where her favorite boys were. Seeing Jethro's back she walked over, wondering what he was doing. "Why exactly are you under my table, Jethro?" she questioned coming closer.

He turned around, his back moving enough so she could see their son under the table, staring at the toy. She smiled and bent down carefully, poking her head underneath to peer at him.

"Hi, sweetie," she said, Zack turning his gaze towards her, staring at her now. Jenny reached under and carefully pulled him out and sat on the floor with him on her lap. She played with his hands as she talked in a calm, pleasant manner to Gibbs.

"I was talking to Zack's doctor; he's worried that our son hasn't talk much yet. I am too, Jethro," she told him, but kept smiling at her son. Jethro looked down at the floor, thinking this over. "He thinks that something may have gone wrong because Zack is a premature baby; that he is slow or something like that," she continued.

"But he's very observant and notices things that other three-year-olds wouldn't. He doesn't talk, but that doesn't make him slow. He's very curious," Jethro argued.

"We've been trying to teach him to walk, hun. He doesn't want to; for some reason he's not interested in learning that kind of stuff. I don't know why….and….and it frightens me," she said, turning her head away from the child, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Jethro pulled Zack out of her arms and let him sit on the floor himself, before moving closer to his lover and wrapping his arms around her. She held on to one of his arms, still silently crying. He moved to place his chin on her shoulder and whispered into her ear, comforting her by saying everything would be alright and that he loved her.

Zack had noticed something shining in the light near his mother's desk and made his way over to it. It was a pen, and when he hit it against the floor it would click, making him smile and continue to do it, ignoring his mother's break down.

Jenny turned to face Jethro after a short while and grabbed his face to kiss him fiercely, all of her emotions pouring into the lip lock; her fears, her joy, her love, and her pain. He kissed her back, but allowed her to take dominance in the kiss, knowing she needed it right now. She pushed against his chest with her hands causing his arms shoot behind his back to brace the two of them. Her kisses slowed in ferocity and soon she just pecked him on the lips and laid her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent. Jethro's hands wound about her svelte form, one hand rubbing her back in comfort.

"It's okay, Jenny," he mumbled, burying his nose in her long red hair. It smelled of fresh strawberries and vanilla, bringing a tiny smile to his face. Zack had crawled over to his parents and pulled on his mother's now messy ponytail trying to get their attention. Jenny gave a small grunt, hair being pulled not a comfortable feeling. Jethro smiled as Jenny pushed herself up from her husband and turned to face her child.

He stared at her, but started giggling at her weird looking face, making his parents to start laughing as well. Jenny pulled Zack into his arms and nuzzled him affectionately. "I love you sweetie, no matter what," she told him, a smile gracing her lips. Jethro move to wrap his arms around Jenny's form again and smiled at his son.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~RAWR~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know it ended on a weird note, but I couldn't come up with a decent next scene, which would be in the future with their son. If you guys have any ideas on the age jump, situation, or the way Zack should act, please sent me a message. Please R&R


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: As stated in the previous chapter, I do not own NCIS

Author's Notes: After much debate between me, myself and I, we've finally decided to continue this story and develop Zack's life to see how he deals with normal little boy things. I hope you enjoy this installment. Please review and tell me your thoughts.

**Changing Lives**

His hair was chocolate brown now and his eyes were still the same (blue/green) but depending on how he was feeling or the color of the shirt he wore, they would seem to be (green/blue) and he was a good two feet taller. At least. Zachary Shepard-Gibbs was seven years old and struggling in school. He just didn't get it! And he didn't know why. All the other kids got it. Why couldn't he? It was so difficult for him and he didn't dare raise his hand to clarify a question with the teacher in fear of being laughed at. True, it hadn't happened before, but he was scared nonetheless because he seemed to be the only one not getting it. So he determined not to do his homework to avoid the confusion and frustration he was so often met with. When asked, he told his parents he didn't have homework or that he did it on the bus. They...seemed to believe him which made him feel bad about it.

One day before supper Zachary sat in his room, fiddling with his thumbs aimlessly, thinking, trying to push that bad feeling away. It wasn't working so he stormed over to his book bag and pulled out the workbook and flipped to the page assigned that night. He grabbed a pencil from the top of his desk and held it poised in his left hand as his eyes looked over the material. Slowly his brows furrowed in confusion and his mouth turned down into a frown. His face got all scrunched up that he simply released the pencil and flopped on the desk to get rid of the tension. It didn't make sense! He didn't cry though. No, that would get mommy or daddy's attention and they would find out about his homework and that he hadn't been doing it. He couldn't do that. Didn't want to make them sad. Taking a breath of air, he lifted his head and took another look at the page before him.

The boy growled and stood up from his seat, causing his chair to bang to the floor. He picked up the workbook and crumbled it as much as he could in his tiny fists and went to the window. Once there he glared at the offending material before pushing his hand through the window and throwing it out. The sound of the thin glass breaking jolted him back and Zachary realized what he had done. He took a few steps back, stumbling to the floor because of his confusion and then let out a yell, which turned into crying.

A few seconds later, Jenny, clad in office clothes with an apron tied around her waist came into the room and stared at what awaited her. "Zachary!" She cried, rushing toward him and embracing him. "What did you-?" She gasped, her question answered for her as she saw the blood on her son's hand, associating it with the broken window a few feet away. "It's okay sweetie, it's okay," she said, wrapping her arms around Zachary tighter, slowly rocking him back and forth.

Soon Jethro entered the room, more confused than his wife had been previously due to his being in the garage at the time and only hearing the glass break. His eyes traveled from the overturn chair, to the two on the floor to the window and then back to his family. He walked to the other side of his son and crouched down. He immediately noticed the bleeding fist but made no mention of it. He merely pulled away from his mother's bosom and looked him in the eye. "Zachary, what happened?" he asked in all seriously.

"I...I dunno. I'm hurt," he said, only partially true in that he wasn't sure why he had broken the glass and thrown the workbook out. He held out his hand for his dad to see.

"Yes, I see that. But why did you break the window? You could have gotten a lot more hurt than you are," Jethro said, wanting to get to the bottom of this before anything else.

Zachary bit his bottom lip and turned into his mother again, burying his face. Jen looked at her husband with sympathetic eyes for her son. "Honey..."

"Six year olds don't just break windows for no reason, Jen. I want to know why," He said standing up to look at the broken glass. One thing he did notice was the thin material that had been used for that particular window, making it easier for an angry little child to break it. Well, he would fix that, not that he expected it to happen again.

"I think we should get him to the hospital first, Jethro. Let him calm down," Jen said firmly, standing up before picking Zachary up and resting him on her hip. "Grab a bandage and the car keys and we'll see you in the car please." Jen left the room without waiting for a response. She knew he would follow her instructions despite his desire for knowledge and his stubbornness. Their son needed them now and more importantly, he needed to be mended properly.

Jethro sighed after his wife exited. His hand reached up to rub at his forehead for a moment before he left as well.

Minutes later they were sitting in a room waiting for the nurse to come in and bandaged the boy's hand Jethro stood in the corner, arms crossed, mind racing. Jen sat in one of the chairs with Zachary on her lap. They were talking quietly as Zack played with the edge of the bandaged around his hand his mom had wrapped earlier. It was slowly soaking up the blood and turning a gross color. A soft knock was heard on the door before it was opened and a young man walked in.

"Mr and Mrs. Gibbs? Hello, my name is Mike," he said turning to shake Jethro's hand before walking to the counter and placing his clipboard down. He sat in the rolly chair and moved toward the mother and son. "Are you Zachary?"

The boy's eyes were wide as he nodded his head briefly before burying his head in his mother's shoulder again. "I'm sorry. He's a little shy, Mike," Jen apologized for the child.

"That's okay," he said smiling to gain the boy's trust. "I just need to take a few vital signs before I can look at your hurt wrist Zachary. May I have your right hand?"

Zack glanced at the man behind his bangs and held out his left hand, the bandaged one.

"No that's your left," Mike smiled again. "I need your other hand."

Zack's face went beet red and he hid again, thrusting out his other hand angrily. How could he get that wrong? Mentally he berated himself, but he refused to cry there. The nurse took his pulse and got his blood oxygen level from the same hand. After writing the information on his clipboard he came back over with the blood pressure device. Jen convinced Zack to sit on her leg facing the door so the nurse could have better access to his arm.

"This might hurt a little okay, Zack?" Mike said as he wrapped it around him and pulled his stethescope on.

"Zachary," the boy said. "Don't call me Zack."

"Sweetie, what's the magic word," Jen chastised lightly.

"Pwease," he said pouting afterward.

"Allright, I'll call you Zachary," Mike replied, taking the child's blood pressure. "Everything is normal but his heart rate is a little high but that's understandable; I can tell he doesn't like being here."

"Nope," agreed the boy.

"Zachary Daniel, calm down," Jen said in a low voice.

"Sorry, mommy," Zack looked down at the floor, eyes softening with guilt.

"Now, would you like to tell me what happened?" the nurse asked, glancing back briefly at the father, wondering why he hadn't spoken yet.

"He smashed the window in his room and cut his left hand open. He hasn't told us why yet," Jen said, reluctant to part with the information because it was curious for a seven year old to bash glass. She knew honesty was the best thing at this point though.

"Zachary? Can I look at your hand now? I can make it feel better," Nurse Mike said. Slowly Zack turned on his mother's knee and held out his hand. The man noticed the slight shaking of the boy's arm as he held it in both of his hands. This kid was really nervous, he thought as he unwrapped the bandaged to inspect the damage. "Are you in any pain, Zachary? On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the worst pain you can think of, could you tell me which number you feel?"

Zachary looked at the man confused for a moment before looking at his father and then his mother as though he was uncertain of getting the question right. He didn't want to give the wrong answer, so...what should he say. His shoulders started to raise and fall quicker than normal and his breathing became faster and he gulped trying to swallow the fear in his throat. He had to say something or they would worry, or get mad or something worse! "I...I...I dunno!" He cried out, staring at the ground, eyes darting back and forth in panic. An instant later he jumped off his mom's lap, ripped his arm from the nurse and bolted toward the door. With only a moment of difficulty he had pried it open and ran down the hall.

"Zachary!" Jen and Jethro cried out at the same time, being more shrill, her's heard the loudest. All three adults got up and headed out the door to find the young boy. Jethro found his son first, seated on a window seat in a corner of a seemingly abandoned hallway. His legs were drawn to his chest as his chin rested on his knees and his eyes gazed outside. Slowly the NCIS agent approached the boy, hoping not to frighten him.

Zack looked over at his father, long repressed guilt and fear reflected in his eyes. "Dad?" he questioned in a small voice. Jethro kept moving forward and sat down on the cushion facing the direction he had come from.

"Yes?"

"I...I'm sorry. I...didn't mean to hurt the window. I...didn't mean to hurt mommy. I didn't mean to upset you. I didn't mean to run away. I just...had to," he said, breathing hard between each sentence or pause.

"You didn't upset me Zachary," Jethro said tilting his head to look at the defenseless boy. "What makes you think that?"

"The look. You're...upset. Uhm...maybe it's a different word. I don't know, but you're not...uhm proud? of me," Zack tried to explain.

The man was able to grasp his son's meaning. "You think I'm disappointed in you?" The boy nodded feverishly, glad to have the word click with what he was saying earlier. Why couldn't he find the word? "Well I'm not. I'm just...confused," Jethro turned his body slightly and placed a hand over both of Zack's hands. "Did the window anger you?"

"Yes, well...no, not...exactly," Zachary admitted a little hastily.

"What made you mad then?" Jethro asked, keeping his voice soft and calm, non-judgmental. It seemed to unnerve his son when too many questions were asked or the tone of voice was just slightly wrong, so he was treading carefully.

"The...workbook," he finally said. His head lifted up from staring at his legs, eyes wide in awe. "I feel better dad. I feel...uhm...free."

Jethro's eyebrows furrowed trying to discern what Zack was talking about. His homework book angered him enough to punch the window? And he feels free now? "Why do you feel free?"

"For tellin'," Zachary said simply, nodding his head because his mood had greatly lifted in the last few moments. "I threw it out the window," he added.

"Ah, I see," the silver-haired man murmured. Angered by the workbook which made him throw it out the...wait. "Zachary. Did your homework confuse you?" he asked slowly.

The boy looked away again, joy fading from his face. He pushed his lips together firmly indicating that he would not talk. "Zack, I need an answer. I promise to help you," Jethro said. He asked again, "Did your homework confuse you?" Slowly the boy nodded his head, attempting to gulp down the fear he had in his throat. Jethro was about to speak when their attention was drawn to the hallway to the right.

"There you two are!" Jenny exclaimed, rushing over to hug Zachary tightly. The doctor was no in view for the father, who nodded slightly at him, acknowledging him. "Come on, let's go get you cleaned up okay?" she practically cooed at him, helping him to his feet. They headed off to the room they had previously occupied. Jethro and the doctor held back for a few moments before following.

About an hour later, the small family was home, bandaged and feeling better if a bit tired from the eventful evening. Deciding to scrap a homemade supper, especially late in the evening, they ordered a pizza and brought it home. Zachary only ate one slice of pizza before he was full or didn't want to eat anymore, Jenny surmised, so he went back to his room to relax. Jethro had cleared the food and was about to head back to the living room where his wife sat rubbing her temples but remembered that Zachary's workbook was still in the lawn, so he went to retrieve it.

Jenny sighed and leaned against the cushion behind her heavily and closed her eyes. She kept trying to figure out why something like this could happen. Why Zachary would break the window. And why he wasn't talking to them. Jethro entered the room and sat on the couch beside Jenny and placed a hand on her leg to grab her attention. "I think..." it was then she noticed the crumbled, dirty workbook on his lap. "Zack might have a learning curve to overcome."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~RAWR~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading. I'm not willing to place a label to what Zack is dealing with, but I am doing research on common issues faced. I've narrowed it down as far as him having a Learning and Communication disorder, but nothing specific. And the cause is nothing serious either, although he was born premature so there's that to consider and there might be something else. If you have any more questions with this situation, let me know in a pm or review and I'll explain what I have thus far.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter of the story and I'll be back soon with another one a few years in the future.


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